Over the last 12 months, Randy Klimpert – senior director of design and development for Hasbro Gaming – has welcomed the year’s biggest video game to the Monopoly family with Monopoly: Fortnite Edition, while also risking upsetting the “purists” with Monopoly: Cheaters Edition; both of which play very differently to the classic game.

LOL Surprise cited as a key driver by The NPD Group.

TechUp will give connected play firms an affordable means of showing off their products at shows including Wired Live, CES and SXSW.

Stats from the NPD Group stated that in the dolls category this year, MGA’s LOL Surprise brand has continued to drive the majority of the international growth.

Toyi, a creative play kit that transforms ordinary items into toys, hits Kickstarter.

“Our new website facilitates a direct route to the end consumer, meaning for the first time, we can fulfil every step of the consumer journey,” said Wild & Wolf’s Joelle Engolia.

“Our Essen-haul-sharing night is one of the most popular events of the year as we try to share a real mixture of games from around the world,” said Board Game Club co-founder Lesley Singleton.

We caught up with Louie to find out more about the development process behind this new range, and plans to take Animoodles beyond the toy aisle.

We caught up with Character’s R&D operations manager to discuss his start in the world of toy design, and how he assesses the state of creativity in the industry at present.

“It’s an honour to work with such a property, and we are excited to be able to partner with Living Dead Media and Image Ten on creating a game worthy of the movie’s legacy,” said CMON’s Geoff Skinner.